Sealed package



(No Model.)

0. S. FELLOWS.

SEALED PACKAGE. 1

Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIN STEPHEN FELLOWS, OF MIDDLETOWVN, NEW YORK.

SEALED PAC KAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,364, dated March 31, 1896. Application filed October 22, 1894. Serial No. 526,555- (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIN STEPHEN FEL- LOWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middletown, in the county of Orange and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sealed Packages,

Y proposed to make a circumscribing incision in the end cap at the point where the flange is turned down, so as to facilitate the stripping of the flange; but that method of opening is practically defective and unreliable owing to the fact that the solder, following the metallic contact between the flange and body, is apt to fasten the disk of the cap more or less to the extreme edge of the canbody. Under these circumstances the stripping of the flange only renders the opening of the can more inconvenient and difficult to accomplish.

The main object of my improvement is to obviate the difficulty mentioned and to render the operation of opening the can positive as well as convenient; and the invention consists,essentially, in preventing the flow of solder to or beyond the circumscribing incision or reduction in thickness in the cap by so constructing the parts that when the end cap is pressed down to bring the inner surface of the cover against the edge of the body of the can a circumscribing space will be formed between the body and the flangeof the cap coinciding with the circumscribing incision or other reduction in thickness in the flange of the cap, thereby insuring the release of the end plate when the flange is stripped. In my concurrent application, filed October 18, 1894, Serial No. 526,254, I accomplish the same result by so constructing the parts that a space is created between the edge of the can-body and the inner surface of the end plate and by so forming the incision or other circumscribing reduction in thickness in the cap so that it coincides with the said interior space.

This necessitates considerable care in the adjustment of the parts, which can be avoided by allowing the end plate to. rest against the extreme edge of the can-body, and this I accomplish by my present invention, while still protecting the edge of the can-body from contact with the solder and union with the inner surface of the end plate.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2,3, and 4 represent sectional elevations of the upper portion of the can, showing the modifications in the form of my improved sealing and stripping joint. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are enlarged sectional views illustrating more clearly the circumscribing reduction in thickness between the sealing and stripping flange and the body of the cap when the latter is of the form shown in the first four figures. Fig. 9 is a View illustrating the old method of sealing, upon which my invention is an improvement.

The body of the package A, a portion only of which is shown, may be of any desired form or construction, that shown in the drawings being presumbly cylindrical. The plate I) of the cap B is formed with the exterior flange b. When the cap is applied and the can passed through the soldering-bath, the solder insinuates itself rapidly between the opposed surfaces of the exterior of the canbody on one side and the interior of the flange on the other, the flow of solder being certain between metallic surfaces which are close together. Thus where the extreme end or edge a abuts against the inner surface of the plate I) of the cap B, as in Fig. 9, the solder is drawn in by the contact, the end plate I) is soldered directly to the edge of the canbody, and the stripping off of the flange does not unseal the package, so as to give ready access to its contents. Hence if the solder reaches the edge of the can-body an incision or a reduction in thickness in the cap formed at or below the angle between the body I) and the flange b is found to be practically of no commercial Value. In fact it has been demonstrated by actual trial and experiment that it is useless, since the stripping of the flange leaves the body of the cap attached to the edge of the can-body A in such manner that it is difficult if not dangerous to effect the removal or partial removal of the end plate I? in order to gain access to the interior of the can.

Another objection to the method shown in Fig. 9 is that the cap is weakened in a dangerous manner atthe extreme angle between the plate 1) and its flange b, so that undue jar in handling or transportation is apt to loosen the edge of the plate I) from the flange b and from the edge a of the can-body, causing leakage.

As a result of investigation and eXperiment, I have invented means by which I overcome the difflculty above referred to and render the opening of the can by the stripping of the flange positive and effective.

The essential feature of construction in a can made according to my invention consists in so making the parts that a circumscribing-ehamber c is formed coinciding in whole or in part with a circumscribing reduction in thickness din the cap B when the latter is placed over the end of the can-body with the inner surface of the end plate I) resting against the edge a of the can-body. Thus the parts are soldered together only between the inner side of the flange below the chamber c and the exterior side of the body A, the solder being unable to 'cross the chamber 0 and reach the edge a of the can-body, so that when the flange is stripped from the latter the end plate I) is released from the end a and has not got to be pried off, as is necessary where the scaling is eflected as shown in Fig. 9.

The stripping of the flange bis efiected in any convenient or well-known manner, as by a twisting key or lever applied to the tongue (1 (shown in the first four figures of the drawings) or by other well-known means.

In Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 6 the end a of the canbody A is bent inward slightly, so that when the cap B is forced down upon it a circumscribing-chamber 0 will be formed at the angle between the flange b and the end plate I).

In Figs. 3 and 7 the chamber 0 is formed by an exterior groove made by beading the body of the can near its edge, so that when the cap Bis applied an inclosed circumscribing-space will be formed between the parts, which will prevent the flow of solder to the edge a of the body. In Figs. 4: and 8 a simi lar result is effected by beading the cap so as to form a groove on the inside of the flange.

The incision d or other circumscribing reduction in thickness is formed in the cap in such position as to correspond to and coincide with the eircumscribing-chamber 0 when the cap B is applied to the can-body A. It is obvious in this connection that the means for effecting the circumseribing reduction in thickness in the cap are of secondary importance. It may be accomplished by an incision on either the exterior or interior of the cap or by pinching or upsetting the metal circumferentially to facilitate the stripping of the flange.

It will be seen that by either forming the cireumscribing thickness below the plate I) or by pinching the metal together and thereby stiifening the cap at the angle between the plate I) and its flange b, I strengthen the cap against accidental rupture by reason of violent contact with other objects.

I am aware that in Patent No. 401,913 a cap is shown in which two circumscribing incisions are formed in the flange by which the cap is united to the body of the can; but this is not the equivalent of my invention, neither is it designed to effect the same result. In the case referred to a strip or ribbon of metal is designed to be removed from either the body of the package below the soldered joint or from a very wide flange on the cap above the soldered joint, whereas in my case I rip open the soldered joint itself and strip away the flange, using only a single circumscribing reduction in thickness in the cap.

Under the patent referred to the act of stripping the ribbon from either the cap or the body of the can reduces the height and capacity of the can sufficiently to render the use of the can impractical in a commercial sense for the storage and transportation of liquid or semiliquid substances, whereas by my invention the full capacity of the can is not affected by the act of opening it.

I am aware that in Patent No. 211,011, of December 17, 1878, an annular corrugation is shown in a can-body opposed to a circumscribing incision in the flange of the end cap, the design being to facilitate the fracture of the flange to release end plate, whereas according to my invention provision is made for stripping the flange from the can-body, tearing open the soldered joint, by means of a stripping-tongue connected with the flange and adapted for engagement with a strippingkey around which the flange is wound during the operation of opening the can. The corrugation in said patent is to render the top portion of the can-body compressible, so that it will yield under the blows administered to the end plate in order to fracture the flange at the score or incision, a totally different function from that of the circumscribing-chamber in my improved form of can, in which the body of the can is left unimpaired by the operation of releasing the end plate. Moreover, as stated in said patent, it is essential that the cover be united to the body of the can by unyielding solder, so that the union between the can-body and the cover is such that the lower portion of the cover practically becomes a portion of the can and remains with the can even after the cover is removed.

In my concurrent application, Serial No. 527,100, filed October 29, 1894, I set forth means for effecting the stripping off simultaneously of both the flange of the end plate and the edge of the can-body. In my concurrent application, Serial No. 527,008, I show and describe the stripping off of the flange of an interior end plate from said plate and face of the can-body and the inner surface of said exterior flange, and said exterior flange having a stripping-tongue, whereby the floW of solder to the edge of the can-body is prevented and the exterior flange can be stripped from the can, releasing the end plate from the body of the can, substantially as and in the manner described.

OLIN STEPHEN FELLOVS.

WVitnesses:

GEORGE WILLIAM MIATT, D. W. GARDNER. 

